A few months have passed since I last railed about English for beekeepers. But in a recent letter to the editor of the American Bee Journal, honey bee researcher Sue Cobey took up the cause. Briefly, she discussed the difference between queen rearing (queen propagation) and queen breeding (genetic evaluation and selection). She also mentioned […] Read more
Last week I was speaking to a high school beekeeping club when one of the attendees asked the inevitable question: “Do bees have knees?” The answer of course is yes. In fact, they have six. In humans, the knee is the joint between the femur and the tibia. Since bees have a femur and a […] Read more
Today I’m going to write eloquently about something I know nothing about. I realize some of you will think that’s not unusual, so I forgive you in advance. The thing on my mind today is the pronunciation of the word “Varroa.” I was always taught that scientific names are a bit wishy-washy when it comes […] Read more
This is a rant about plurals and capital letters and how they apply to bees. Fascinating! But if you don’t care to read about English, please go no further. More than one bee? If you are writing about a single bee, the word “bee” works just fine. But if you happen to be writing about […] Read more
As many of you know, I am passionate about words. Words are meant to convey meaning, and the right word allows us to communicate with clarity and brevity. On the other hand, sloppy vocabulary leads to mushy thinking. Part of the reason ten beekeepers give fifteen different answers to the same question is the lack […] Read more
Today I’m going to write about Latin. How boring is that? But there is a reason for my madness: time and again I have heard beekeepers trip all over certain bee words having Latin plurals, so I’ve decided to review a few of the common ones. I know nothing about Latin, which makes me (by […] Read more
All queen bees are females with the ability to lay fertilized eggs, but not all fertile, egg-laying females are queens. The term “queen” is often misused to describe female solitary bees that live and work by themselves. In fact, these are not queens but simply females. Well-known examples of queenless species are the mason bees, […] Read more